Kobe Bryant offered some perspective for the Lakers losing their first two road games under Mike D'Antoni.

""Memphis is a real good team," Bryant said. "In Sacramento, we just laid an egg."

Indeed, Memphis is a threatening team in the Western Conference, even if it doesn't have the star power of Oklahoma City or the Lakers.

The Grizzlies improved to an NBA-best 9-2 record, the hottest start in franchise history. Given the Lakers' turnover problems in whichever Mike's offense this season, Brown or D'Antoni, the Grizzlies present a particularly difficult matchup, something that will be worth monitoring when the playoff matchups begin to come into picture come spring: Memphis has an aggressive, physical defense that has forced at least 10 turnovers in 115 consecutive games, more than twice the length of the NBA's next-longest such streak. The Lakers committed 18 turnovers Friday night -- turning into 29 Memphis points.

"To beat a team on the road like this, you have to play every possession hard," D'Antoni said, "and I don't think we are there yet."

Steve Nash's nerve endings are still tingling, and not in a good way, and the Lakers' need for a legitimate point guard -- or preferably a maestro when it comes to Mike D'Antoni's offense -- is only increasing.

Kobe Bryant went into the first timeout of the third quarter refusing even to look the way of starting point guard Darius Morris after he threw a pass wide right of Bryant and out of bounds. Bryant went into the break at the end of the third quarter imploring backup point guard Chris Duhon to shoot if he's as open as he was after receiving Bryant's latest pass, which Duhon turned into a turnover instead.

Bryant had his worst shooting game of the season Friday night, and the disorganized Lakers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies, 106-98. Dwight Howard (seven points, four rebounds) and Pau Gasol (six points, four rebounds) were quiet again, and the Lakers were outscored in the paint, 40-24.

Although the Lakers haven't had as many chances as some teams with a home-heavy start to the schedule, they are 0-4 and the only winless team in the league on the road besides Washington and Sacramento, the two worst teams in each conference.

The Lakers are realizing how hard it is to play a fast offense in rhythm -- and while attending to defense, too -- without a point-guard leader controlling their tempo. Nash (leg) suggested Friday he's not expecting to be back early next week, though there is some hope from the Lakers that fellow point guard Steve Blake (abdomen) will.

The best thing Kobe Bryant did as a Laker on Sunday night was to handle his media session in a professional manner.

That was fulfilling the leadership role, and not fueling any public controversy with Coach Mike Brown.

I also take Brown at his word, that he rested Bryant late in the fourth quarter because Bryant had not rested in the second half. Not because he was playing poorly, either, because he had a pretty nice third quarter.

But the benching just as easily could have been because the team leader acted like a petulant child during a timeout, standing on the court alone while other Lakers received instruction. Or, because Bryant punched a chair on the way to a timeout, further distracting the huddle.

For most of Tuesday night, the Lakers had All-Stars Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant and little else.

But they got enough defense down the stretch, becoming a trademark of Mike Brown's first Lakers team, and pulled out a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in double overtime, 116-111. Bynum had 37 points on 15-of-18 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 shooting from the foul line; Bryant had 34 points.

It was the first time two Lakers scored at least 30 points in the same game since Pau Gasol and Bryant did it in more than a year ago (Feb. 5, 2011 vs. New Orleans). Bynum now has three games in his career with 30 or more points -- but two of them have come in the past five games.

A Memphis team still missing Zach Randolph (knee) and missing top scorer Rudy Gay (concussion) got major production from power forward Marreese Speights (25 points) and shooting guard Tony Allen (18).

The Lakers started the second half lacking fire. They trailed, 52-51, at halftime, but before long were down by 17 points after a Speights jumper with 5:19 left in the third. But they rallied and prevailed, even though they never led by more than three points until the final minute of the second overtime on two Bynum free throws.

Mike Brown promised to put Bryant in better spots on the floor for him to score.

For a Lakers team struggling with many of the most basic facets of the game, Bryant's ongoing scoring punch is a nice cornerstone to stay resting on. He had 26 points Sunday night.

Bryant shot 12 for 46 (26.1 percent) in back-to-back games against Denver on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, he has made 51 of 103 (49.5 percent) in the past four games. Despite the torn ligament in his right wrist, Bryant made 11 of 22 field-goal attempts in the Lakers' 90-82 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night. He also had nine assists, although he had four of the Lakers' season-high 27 turnovers.

Andrew Bynum continued to struggle with double-teams but turned up his rebounding in the fourth quarter with 10 -- and he finished with 15 rebounds to go with 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting. Pau Gasol had 13 points and 15 rebounds, outplaying younger brother Marc, who missed all nine of his shots to go with 11 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and three blocks.